As is well known, in comparison with conventionally known photographic supports, e.g., transparent plates or films of TAC, PET, polycarbonate and the like, paper, synthetic paper, baryta paper, polyolefin-laminated paper, films or plates containing white pigment, and metal plates such as an aluminum plate, the surface of which is subjected to anodization treatment, a photographic support having a metal reflective or secondary diffuse-reflective surface provides a photographic or recording medium which is excellent in terms of reproducibility of gradation, reproducibility of hue in color photography, sharpness of image, and so on. Such photographic supports are described, for example, in JP-A-61-210346 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application"), JP-A 63-118154, JP-A-63-24247, JP-A-6324251, and JP-A-63-24252.
In the support disclosed in JP-A-61-210346, the distance between the thin metal layer and the photographic emulsion is 30 .mu.m or more because a thermoplastic resin layer and/or a transparent substrate is sandwiched therebetween. Further, white pigment is incorporated in the thermoplastic resin in order to decrease the directivity of reflected light from the metal deposited layer and increase the scattering of the reflected light. This support is sufficiently satisfactory in luminance, but is not necessarily sufficient in resolving power.
JP-A-63-118154, JP-A-63-24247, JP-A-63-24251, JP-A-63-24252 JP-A-63-104234 and Japanese Patent Application Nos. 61-168804 and 61-168805 disclose methods (first methods) to obtain the secondary diffuse-reflective layer, where metal foils such as of aluminum, silver, gold, copper, nickel, chromium and platinum, or alloys thereof are used and then converted into a secondary diffuse-reflective layer by pressing two sheets together at the same time, and employing a matted surface in the inside thereof, which is subjected to patterning at the time of extending, e.g., by sand blasting mechanically, such as by the use of a brush or spraying fine particles of an abrasive (e.g., a pumice stone powder), in a jet stream, or etching by the electrolytic method. They further disclose methods (second methods) in which a thin metal layer is formed by techniques such as vacuum deposition, sputtering, ion plating, electro deposition, and non-electrolytic plating, and then it is converted into a secondary diffuse-reflective surface by the method described in the first methods.
The metal foil to be used in the first methods, however, holds flexibility even after bonded to a base paper or a plastic film and thus difficulties are encountered in handling at the time of light exposure or development. In the second methods, the thin metal layer is first provided on a substrate and then is subjected to surface treatment to impart the secondary diffuse-reflective properties. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a thin metal layer having a sufficient thickness to withstand the surface treatment, which is not economical.
When a less noble metal than silver is used in the support for preparation of photographic or recording light-sensitive material using a silver halide photographic emulsion, fog or spots tend to be readily formed in the course of development. For this reason, as is known, an adhesive layer of thermoplastic resin is provided. However, during the development or drying after development, the film is readily peeled apart, and furthermore when a thermoplastic resin is used, it becomes difficult to form a layer having a thickness of 0.1 to 5 .mu.m.
In addition, over the course of a long time from development, there is a danger of the mirror surface or secondary diffuse-reflective property being deteriorated, or the evenness of reflectivity being reduced.